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Nicholas
Wilt—November
2005 Shipment Honoree
Marine Lance Cpl.,
23, of Tampa, Fla.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Marine
Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force,
Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms,
Calif.; killed Sept. 3, 2004 by enemy action in Anbar
province, Iraq.
Mother, Wife Remember
Marine as Quiet Hero Ready for Duty
Source: Michael
Van Sickler, St. Petersburg Times, September 7, 2004
In a cigar
box she stores in a living room cabinet, Rebecca Wilt keeps
dozens of letters her son, Nicholas, wrote while serving in
Iraq. Her favorite was written April 21, 2003, after Baghdad
seemed under control and friendly Iraqis embraced the American
troops.
"Looking at
their faces was the most amazing experience in my life so
far," he printed carefully in black ink. "I once doubted
joining the Marine Corps, and I used to think it was the worst
decision I've ever made, but now I'd do it all over again."
In his
second tour of duty in Iraq, 23-year-old Lance Cpl. Nicholas
Wilt was killed Friday when a bomb exploded near the Syrian
border. "He was such a great human being," said Rebecca Wilt
as she thumbed through his letters. "It was an honor being his
mother."
Inspired
after 9/11 to enlist, Wilt was an enthusiastic supporter of
the Iraq war. But he left much behind at home, including plans
of starting a family with his new wife, Mercedes.
As he sat in
his kitchen Monday, Wilt's father-in-law wondered why men like
Wilt keep returning to the war. "He was one of the first ones
in Iraq, why does he have to go back?" said Richard Maestrelli.
"He already faced down danger once. I don't think it's right
he's forced to do it a second time."
He was ready
to go back a third time if needed, said Mercedes Wilt. Doing
more than others was something Wilt always did, she said. He
wanted to serve his country. And after he finished his
four-year hitch, he told her, he would dedicate his life to
making her happy.
A graduate
of Tampa Catholic High School, Wilt met Mercedes in the spring
of 2001 at a friend's party. "The world just melted away and
we talked for hours that night," Mercedes Wilt said. They
weren't dating long before the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
After that, Wilt talked about joining the Marines. "The night
I told him I loved him was the same night he told me he was a
Marine," she said. "I was petrified. I realized the man I was
in love with was going to fight a war."
Wilt was
among the first U.S. troops to invade Iraq. He called once on
a reporter's cell phone to tell Mercedes about one of Saddam
Hussein's palaces. He marveled at the mammoth pools and the
gold toilet seats.
A machine
gunner on a Hummer that scouted for tanks, Wilt captured much
of what he saw in letters to family and friends. In April
2003, he wrote about seeing a Marine shoot an Iraqi who had
been shooting at them.
"But in the
process, another Iraqi was standing near the incident and was
accidentally shot twice," Wilt wrote. "While the Marines were
securing the street, the innocent man that was shot came up to
the Marine who shot him and told him, "Thank you for killing
that man and thank you for everything you've done.' Then he
said, "now I go to hospital.' Can you imagine that?"
Mercedes
Wilt keeps his letters in a binder notebook. "I'd get a letter
just about every day," she said.
When Wilt
finished his first tour of duty in October 2003, he and
Mercedes had a wedding with all of their friends and family.
They had their honeymoon in Mexico, then moved to a base in
California. By the end of August, Wilt was deployed again.
This time, Mercedes Wilt said, she was filled with dread. "The
whole week before he left, I was a baby," she said.
On their
last night, they ate a home cooked lasagna dinner and listened
to a CD of love songs. "We just talked and cried," Mercedes
Wilt said. As they hugged goodbye the next morning, Wilt told
her she meant everything to him. "I'm glad we at least got an
official goodbye," she said. "I at least have that."
In the next
few days, Mercedes said she expects to get his final letter,
which he wrote during the plane ride to Kuwait. He called on
Thursday, asking if she was okay. She said she was feeling
blue and he wanted to cheer her up.
Now, she
said she doesn't know what to feel. "I'm hurt, I'm numb, I'm
just outraged," she said. "They robbed me of my life with him,
my soul mate, the man I wanted to have children with. I pray
to God every night hoping I'm pregnant so I can see his face
again."
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